It can be joyful, serious, humorous, sad, threatening, formal, informal, pessimistic, or optimistic.
Definition
Tone is the overall mood or atmosphere of a piece of writing. It can be positive, negative, or neutral. The tone of a piece can be affected by the author's choice of words, sentence structure, and level of detail.
Example
The following excerpt from “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, a poem by Dylan Thomas, conveys a tone of urgency and desperation:
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”
Professional writing, however, might suggest a cordial—but urgent—tone, like in this example:
“Thanks for agreeing to help me with this project! I’d really appreciate your PowerPoint slides ASAP so we have enough time to practice before our 8 a.m. presentation tomorrow.”
When writing a note to a friend that shares an urgent message (but in a playful tone), it might look like this:
“Hey, Jocelyn! Thanks for dog-sitting Cooper for me tonight. I forgot to give him his medicine so can you PLEAAASE help me out and give him one pill ASAP? Have I ever told you that you’re the BEST?! :)”
Conclusion
Tone is an important element in writing. It can set the overall mood or atmosphere of a piece, and it can be affected by the author's choice of words, sentence structure, and level of detail. The audience can also affect the tone of a piece. You can also download our app from the playstore or visit our website.
